There has been a long felt need for an envelope that may be closed and sealed in a totally tamper-proof manner, that can be opened and closed again without leaving clear traces of violation. One example is the handling and transport of money. Every time the money passes from one person to another, even within the same banking establishment, it has to be counted. Otherwise the eventual loss of part of the money cannot be attributed to any given event. The solution to this problem would obviously be the closure of the counted money in a sack or envelope that can be sealed and the opening thereof only at the final destination. However, in view of the enormous volume of money that is handled daily, not only security is required. It is also essential that the closure and sealing system be simple to handle and operate. A combination between a high degree of security and simplicity of operation is therefore essential for such solution to be put into practice.
A plastic envelope for the transport of money or confidential documents is already known, which is closed by means of an adhesive which supposedly prevents the re-opening of the envelope without visably adulterating the material thereof. Although such a product is undisputably easy to close, unfortunately it is relatively simple to soften the adhesive with solvent, open the envelope and then close it again, it being sufficient to evaporate the solvent for the adhesive to return to it original condition without leaving any visible sign of violation.
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a new solution to the problem whereby, by means of an equally simple operation, money or confidential documents may be placed and sealed within a totally tamper-proof envelope so that there is no necessity to check the contents of the envelope, at the intermediate phases of its transport, but rather only at its final destination.
According to the present invention an envelope with closure and seal means comprises an envelope having first and second opposed planar sides and a closure and seal device having a first part extended substantially along said opening externally of the first side, the first part being formed with a series of locking pins distributed along and normal to its length, each pin passing through a corresponding pair of orifices, one on each said side of the envelope. The closure and seal device also has a second part formed with a corresponding series of locking socket formations for the pins and adapted to be placed externally of said second side of the envelope, substantially along the opening, for the reception and locking of the pins in a closed and sealed configuration of the envelope. Means are also provided along the whole length of and folded over said opening in the closed and sealed configuration and thus maintained by the locking of the pins in the socket formations.
When a very high degree of security is desired for the transport of money, the pilfer-proof characteristic of the seals may be ensured when the socket formations include internal locking teeth engagable behind the heads formed on the pins and, furthermore, in the closed and sealed configuration, there is no access to said teeth from the outside. This may conveniently be obtained when the external part of each socket formation, in such configuration, presents an axial opening substantially filled by the head of the respective locking pin.
The two parts of the closure and seal device may be molded from plastic material as a single piece and hinged together along corresponding logitudinal edges, the hinge region being extended along the opening of the envelope and comprising the means folded over the opening in the closed and sealed configuration.
Alternatively, or even in addition, the first side of the envelope may include a part or flap extended beyond the opening of the envelope, it being formed along its free transverse edge with a series of orifices so that such flap may be doubled over the opening of the envelope and penetrated by the pins before they are locked in the socket formations, thus defining said means folded over the opening in the closed and sealed configuration.
According to a further aspect of the present invention a closure and seal device having the features mentioned above is provided at such end of its first part with a foldable tongue and a catch formation spaced therefrom to catch and hold a free end of the surface of the first part. This not only fixes the device to the envelope but also, especially when the tongues are extended longitudinally away from the ends of the first part to be doubled back over it, prevents any possibility of access to the interior of the envelope from the ends of its transverse opening.
When, in one embodiment, the device is modular, the tongues will be provided only on the outer ends of the first and last modules, to be joined to the adjacent module with at least one of the pins of one of the modules passing through an orifice on the other module.